The process of getting a bill passed has many difficult steps. There are the lobbying sessions which are both fair and necessary. There are committees which often support people over ideas. There is the vote which often leaves some good bills behind. Much of the system is flawed and often unfair.
The first step is the lobbying. Lobbyists from all over the country come to try and sway the vote of congressmen. For more details on the lobbying session see article I of the Ashley Times. The main point of lobbying is to convince the congressmen to sponsor and vote for his or her bill. This step is perfectly just. It is every man for himself and the ones who tried their hardest definitely stood out from the rest. However, the next step and the purpose for lobbying, was for the Congressmen to actually pick the bills they wished to sponsor. This is where the injustice starts. While Congressmen have the option to pick the best bills they come across, many do not. Instead, Congressmen sponsor their friends’ bills while the best bills get left behind.One of the bills that got left behind by unfair circumstances is Pressman Haslam’s bill to establish a recycling requirement for commercial buildings.
The mid-way point of the process is committee. This is where the remaining bills are divided up into the appropriate committees. Then the congressmen are divided between the committees and they decide whether the bills are kept or not. If the bills do dot pass they are pigeon holed, or taken out of the debate. This is also a very unfair part of the process, because the Congressmen are allowed to be in the same committee as their bill.Therefore, those congressmen are again going to support their bills or their friends’ bills. Some of the unfairly pigeon holed bills were lobbyist Newman’s billto make Licensing required for government and private fur trading companies and pressman Touchton’s bill protecting privacy on the internet. Both these bills were very well presented and reasonable.If not for the faulty committee system, they both would have gone far.
If any bills get sponsored by a majority of the House or Senate, then these bills bypass committee. This is vital because committees usually pigeon hole the majority of bills. Some bills have gotten to this point fairly like senator Chastain’s bill to stiffen penalties for drug dealing. Some unfairly, by dealing between friends, such as Member of the House Dulaney’s bill to raise the driving age and Member of the House Gaster’s bill to make some acts of hazing illegal. These bills are not necessarily unreasonable, but they would not have gone as far if Gaster and Dulaney were not permitted to support their own bill.
After the committee, the remaining bills go to a direct vote with the Senate and the House. This again has the same problem as before; people do not vote on the best bills. Some of the bills voted out at this point were Lobbyist Zuckerman’s bill and Senator Chimberoff’s bill. One of the poorly written bills that got passed was Senator George’s bill to ban sale and public consumption of alcohol on Sundays. Member of the House Lobbyist Walker had a very well-rounded bill and hers went through, but not because of the bill itself. A rider was placed on Lobbyist Walker’s bill that bribed voters with a reward. Though this was one of the only worthy bills passed, it was clearly not passed for the right reasons.
The final step, if the bill has passed both the House and the Senate, is to go to the President. If the President passes the bill it becomes a law and if not then it goes back to the Congress to see if they can override the presidential veto. The president passed all of the bills she received in this session. This could be considered a bad thing because it means that the President is not strong enough to turn down poor bills. This is a great check and balance to catch these bills.
This system is designed with good intention, but it can be extremely unjust. The Congressmen should not be able to give input on their bill and riders give an unfair advantage to the bills they are placed on. These problems could be solved by the writing of a law. Congressmen should not be able to sponsor, be in committee with, or be counted in the vote for his or her bill. This would result in a more accurate vote. Secondly riders should not be permitted on any bill. This would keep people from voting on a bill for their own benefit. In this session hardly any bills were passed and even less were justly passed. This system has been this way for too long and needs to be changed so that it can better represent and provide for its people.
Ashley Times
Article II May 10, 2008
The process of getting a bill passed has many difficult steps. There are the lobbying sessions which are both fair and necessary. There are committees which often support people over ideas. There is the vote which often leaves some good bills behind. Much of the system is flawed and often unfair.
The first step is the lobbying. Lobbyists from all over the country come to try and sway the vote of congressmen. For more details on the lobbying session see article I of the Ashley Times. The main point of lobbying is to convince the congressmen to sponsor and vote for his or her bill. This step is perfectly just. It is every man for himself and the ones who tried their hardest definitely stood out from the rest. However, the next step and the purpose for lobbying, was for the Congressmen to actually pick the bills they wished to sponsor. This is where the injustice starts. While Congressmen have the option to pick the best bills they come across, many do not. Instead, Congressmen sponsor their friends’ bills while the best bills get left behind. One of the bills that got left behind by unfair circumstances is Pressman Haslam’s bill to establish a recycling requirement for commercial buildings.
The mid-way point of the process is committee. This is where the remaining bills are divided up into the appropriate committees. Then the congressmen are divided between the committees and they decide whether the bills are kept or not. If the bills do dot pass they are pigeon holed, or taken out of the debate. This is also a very unfair part of the process, because the Congressmen are allowed to be in the same committee as their bill. Therefore, those congressmen are again going to support their bills or their friends’ bills. Some of the unfairly pigeon holed bills were lobbyist Newman’s bill to make Licensing required for government and private fur trading companies and pressman Touchton’s bill protecting privacy on the internet. Both these bills were very well presented and reasonable. If not for the faulty committee system, they both would have gone far.
If any bills get sponsored by a majority of the House or Senate, then these bills bypass committee. This is vital because committees usually pigeon hole the majority of bills. Some bills have gotten to this point fairly like senator Chastain’s bill to stiffen penalties for drug dealing. Some unfairly, by dealing between friends, such as Member of the House Dulaney’s bill to raise the driving age and Member of the House Gaster’s bill to make some acts of hazing illegal. These bills are not necessarily unreasonable, but they would not have gone as far if Gaster and Dulaney were not permitted to support their own bill.
After the committee, the remaining bills go to a direct vote with the Senate and the House. This again has the same problem as before; people do not vote on the best bills. Some of the bills voted out at this point were Lobbyist Zuckerman’s bill and Senator Chimberoff’s bill. One of the poorly written bills that got passed was Senator George’s bill to ban sale and public consumption of alcohol on Sundays. Member of the House Lobbyist Walker had a very well-rounded bill and hers went through, but not because of the bill itself. A rider was placed on Lobbyist Walker’s bill that bribed voters with a reward. Though this was one of the only worthy bills passed, it was clearly not passed for the right reasons.
The final step, if the bill has passed both the House and the Senate, is to go to the President. If the President passes the bill it becomes a law and if not then it goes back to the Congress to see if they can override the presidential veto. The president passed all of the bills she received in this session. This could be considered a bad thing because it means that the President is not strong enough to turn down poor bills. This is a great check and balance to catch these bills.
This system is designed with good intention, but it can be extremely unjust. The Congressmen should not be able to give input on their bill and riders give an unfair advantage to the bills they are placed on. These problems could be solved by the writing of a law. Congressmen should not be able to sponsor, be in committee with, or be counted in the vote for his or her bill. This would result in a more accurate vote. Secondly riders should not be permitted on any bill. This would keep people from voting on a bill for their own benefit. In this session hardly any bills were passed and even less were justly passed. This system has been this way for too long and needs to be changed so that it can better represent and provide for its people.
-Ashley